Carrot Cupcakes

Remember all that frosting I made for the Red Velvet Valentine Cupcakes? I had so much left over, and I hated to throw it away (who throws away perfectly good frosting?) so I made more cupcakes! This recipe is delicious, but a little time consuming. Try it if you have some extra time on your hands!

Carrot Cupcake

Best Carrot Cake

Courtesy of Southern Living, October 1997

Yields three 9 in. Round Cakes or 24 Cupcakes.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 large eggs
2 cups sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated carrot

1 - 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

1 - 3-1/2 oz. can flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

• Line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
• Stir together first 4 ingredients. Set aside.
• Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended.
• Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients.
• Pour batter into prepared cakepans.
• Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Drizzle Buttermilk Glaze (recipe below) evenly over layers; cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
• Spread Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below) between layers and on top and sides of cake.
• I edited the recipe as follows:
• Use 2-1/2 cups self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour.
• Omit salt and baking soda.
• Pour batter into 24 lined and greased muffin cups. Fill cups 3/4 full.
• Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Drizze Buttermilk Glaze evenly over cupcakes; cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove from pans and place each cake in a second cupcake liner and cool completely.
• Top with frosting.

Buttermilk Glaze

Courtesy of Southern Living, October 1997

Yields 1-1/2 cups.

1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes.
• Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.

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Cream Cheese Frosting

Courtesy of Southern Living, November 1996

Yields 3-1/2 cups.

1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 - 16 oz. package powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy.
• Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended; add vanilla, beating until blended.

Red Velvet Valentine Cupcakes

We had a great couple of days with the Sartain side of the family this weekend. My parents and brother and his wife and kids came to visit. We did some shopping and enjoyed some great food and time together! We had some major feasts at some delicous, but not so good for you restaurants: El Zarape, Village Burger, Greenwoods on Green Street, and Fox Brothers. Whooo... it makes my stomach full just thinking about it!

Even after all that eating, I still felt inspired to make some Valentine's treats to take share at work. I love sweets, but I don't like to keep them around the house. My cure for that is to make what I'm craving, have a bite or two, and take the rest to work! So here are my Red Velvet Valentine Cupcakes...

Red Velvet Valentine Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cake

Courtesy of Southern Living, November 1996

Yields three 8 in. Round Cakes or 24 Cupcakes.

1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 - 1 oz. bottle red liquid food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

• Beat shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
• Stir in food coloring and vanilla, blending well.
• Combine flour, salt, and cocoa; set aside.
• Combine buttermilk, vinegar, and baking soda in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup. (Mixture will bubble.)
• Add flour mixture to shortening mixture, alternatly with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes; pour batter into three greased and floured 8-inch round cakepans.
• Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
• Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top of cake. Garnish, if desired, with chopped pecans.
• I edited the recipe as follows:
• Use 2-1/2 cups self-rising flour instead of cake flour. Sifting optional.
• Elminate salt and baking soda.
• Pour batter into 24 greased muffin cups (with or without liners). Fill cups 1/2 full.
• Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool in pans for 5 - 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely. Top with frosting. Garnish, if desired, with chopped pecans.

Here's a picture of the finished cupcakes. Didn't they bake up just perfectly?

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Pre-frosting 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Courtesy of Southern Living, November 1996

Yields 3-1/2 cups.

1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 - 16 oz. package powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy.
• Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended; add vanilla, beating until blended.

I like a lot of frosting on my cupcakes so I tripled this recipe. Probably a mistake, because I'm sure I have at least two servings left over. See?

Extreme Frosting (10-1/2 cups to be exact)

Anyhooo... Jordan and I taste-tested the finished product and they are delicious, if i do say so myself. I would strongly encourage anyone to make these! Now I just need to learn how to ice/frost for real...

New Curtains

Finally! The dining room curtains are up. They still need to be ironed, but they are hanging... and draping... and in general looking fantastic!

I've had the curtains since Novemeber, but haven't been able to find a curtain rod. Then there was a sale at Calico Corners so I convinced Jordan that it was time to order! I'm so happy with how they look. Check out the before and after pics:

Before

After

Sweet Curtain Rod Close-Up

Winter Fun

We went skiing and snow tubing this past weekend in Boone, NC. This was our second annual trip with a group of Jordan's friends from Georgia Tech. Jordan's friend's parents have a cabin in Blowing Rock, NC, which our group rented and we had a blast! The cabin is seriously amazing! It makes me wish we could have a vacation home. Maybe someday...

We skied on Friday at Appalachian Ski Mountain and went Snow Tubing on Saturday at Hawksnest Resort. There wasn't much natural snow on the mountains (or anywhere really), but Appalachain was working hard on the man-made snow so the conditions were decent. Snow tubing was a lot more work than we thought it would be. There's a lot of walking and the tube lanes weren't steep enough to get all the way down on the tube. Until it started sleeting/snowing... Then tubing got a lot easier and more fun!

Below are some skiing pictures that rival Lindsey Vonn in sheer ski awesomeness:

Jordan and I tearing up the bunny slope.

Jordan and I at the top of Appalachian.

A group shot at the top of Appalachian.

From L to R - Rob, Ryan, Margaret, Jordan, Me, Courtney, and Brian.

And here are a couple of pirated snow tubing pics:

Jordan and I.

Andy and Ashley.

Hello out there?

I’m new here. Like, really new.

I’ve never written anything besides a school paper or a report for work. And aside from the occasional facebook post, I’ve never written about myself. I also never really had a reason to write or a topic that I thought was blog-worthy.

But, I'm basically over the whole blog-worthy thing and am trying out blogging as more of a journal to document the ups and downs of this thing called life!

Here we go...